The Colfax chronicle. [volume] (Colfax, Grant Parish, La.) 1877-1981, 1887-01-22
WHALE HUNTING.
It's Prosecution on the New En-
gland Coast.
The Pursuit OF the Finback-Use Of the
Bomb-Lance-AS Successful Hunt on
the Coast OF Maine.

that whale fishery has been for
eight or ten years carried on in the
waters of the New England coast
Several fishing villages along the
Maine coast and Grand Manan are
local centers of this whale-hunting.
The pursuit of the finback whale was
formerly held in contempt by the
whalemen of Nantucket and New Bed
ford, who preferred to voyage to the
Pacific and the Arctic for the sperm
whale. The speed and activity of the
finback had no attraction for these old
time Nimrods of the ocean. Indeed,
but for the bomb-lance and other mod
ern appliances, the business would
hardly be profitable to-day. for the fin
back is very gamey whale. and to the
rapidity of his movements adds great
tenacity of life, He is a long, clean.
finely nodded creature, sometimes at
tanning length of seventy or eighty
feet, but commonly measuring from
forty to sixty.
In the finback, nature seems to have
designed whale especially for speed
in swimming, and for easy movements
in the water. It's tail is tremendous
engine of propulsion. No screw-pro-
peller yet invented by man can equal
it. A railroad express train would find
the swiftness Of this great mammal
something Of test of its speed.
The finback generally appears in our
New England waters early in the
spring, in pursuit of the schools of
mackerel and herring which, together
fish, make the bulk ofits food. Closing
in upon such school, the finback pre-
pares for dinner by simply opening his
big mouth at widest stretch, and then
driving ahead at full speed through the
crowded mass Of frightened fishes.
When a goodly mouthful is corralled,
snap comes the wide jaws together,
and then, without any attempt at mas
tication--for the finback is not favored
with teeth,-the entire squirming, flop
ping mass, several barrels it may be,
is transferred at a single gulp to its
enormous stomach. This maneuver
having been repeated till its appetite is
appeased, the gorged leviathan takes q
siesta, floating lazily on the surface,
rising and falling with the surge, as
inert as derelict hulk.
Then after digestion has done its
work, the monster wakes up, becomes
playful and kittenish, and proceeds to
give gymnastic exhibition, either
alone or in company with number of
its fellows. A lamb in its pasture in
May, or young puppy in backyard,
never cuts queerer antics orplays more
exuberant pranks. First. perhaps, it
will flourish about twenty feet of long
black tail in the air, the enormous
creature apparently standing on his
head. Next. he will stand on his tail,
throwing his big head out ofthe water,
to an equal height, with . low, deep
whish. and a smack of his jaws audible
. long distance away. Then he takes
"header" straight down into the
depths, coming up half a mile away to
blow again. Races of two and two
and all sorts Of wstery waltzes are now
in order. and this wild play may con-
tinue till 1t is time to recommence the
principal business of its life, namely,
fishing. -
The present outfit for hunting the fin
back and its more rarely seen con-
gener. the humpback. consists usually
Of schooner of from twenty-five to q
hundred and fifty tons burden, carrying
whale-boat of the old approved model,
with men enough to man it well-six
or eight-and two or three spare hands
to manage the schooner when the boat
is after its prey. The skipper is CON-
monty owner. or part owner, and gen.
orally handles the bomb-gun, or har-
poon, and pulls spare oar in the boat
as well. The bomb-lance is now the
weapon most relied on to kill the fin
back. The gun from which the lance
is fired is short, very thick and clumsy,
with barrel about seventeen inches
long, and the breech made very heavy
with lead, to break the force of the
severe recoil. The projectile, or bomb
lance itself, is pointed cylinder, about
foot long. The point is made triang-
ular. and the base hollow to contain q
charge of powder. Around the base
of the cylinder are fitted India rubber
wings" which fold up when the.lance
is thrust down the barrel of the gun,
and act as wad. But when discharged.
these wings unfold and serve as the
feather" of an arrow. to steady the
point of the lance so that it moves
straight in the air.
A fuse. cut to explode the bursting
charge in the projectile within second
after firing, projects from the base of
the cylinder. The discharge of the gun
ignites the fuse, and the fine art of the /
business is to arrange the length of the
fuse so that the bomb will explode in
the body Of the whale the instant it has
penetrated 10 . vital part. Otherwise
The projectile may pass entirely through
NE whale body and inflict no immedi |
ate mortal injury. When properly ex-
ploded. the bomb produces terrible !
Wound. sometimes instantly fatal !